


ex-PLAIN!

by evie_thor



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, also this is not dumb thor at ALL the guy just doesn't know american geography, and before the team all become friends, based on a vine, for good reason too like why would a norse god need to know how many dakotas there are, he tries his best though, i tried really hard to keep this platonic but they're way too powerful, so bruce is still kinda awkward here, takes place between the dark world and avengers age of ultron, this is also strangely educational ??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 16:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15666666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evie_thor/pseuds/evie_thor
Summary: Thor doesn't get American geography, but Bruce tries his best to help him out.





	ex-PLAIN!

**Author's Note:**

> (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ This story randomly popped in my head and I felt like writing something, so have a blurb based on a vine randomly sung at a party I went to! Also American geography **is** irritating, so once again Thor is Right.

Thor frowned at the map in front of him, hands on his hips as he scanned the holographic projection. He didn’t realize how long he’d been standing there until Bruce walked up, frowning at him before looking at the map himself.

“Thor, are you alright?” he asked, confused.

Thor shook his head, glancing down at his friend before giving a smile on greeting. “Banner! Hello, and I’m fine, I’m just confused at this map. Could you help me with some questions?”

Bruce nodded, looking over at what he realized to be a map of the US. “Shoot.”

He nodded, sticking out a finger to point at two states up North. “Why do you have two Dakotas? Just make one Dakota.”

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but Thor’s hand was already moving down south.

“And you have two Carolinas. And two Washingtons. And two Virginias.” He moved east. “And a New Jersey and a New York, but no Old Jersey or Old York.”

“You’re not gonna ask about New Mexico?” Bruce asked, amused. 

Thor shook his head. “No need, Old Mexico is right there,” he replied, pointing at Mexico. Bruce laughed. 

“That’s just regular Mexico, Thor. And the “old” York’s and Jerseys are over in Europe, after British …. people, I think,” he explained, his head tilting to the side as he tried to remember his high school European studies. “A lot of that area was conquered by Europeans. Well,  _ all  _ of it is, but that part came first.”

“I see. And the double states?”

Bruce thought about it. “Dakota was too big, so they split it,” he finally said, taking another look at the double states. “The Washingtons are named after the first president, so he got the capital and a state. And the Carolinas had big cities on opposite sides of the land, so they split that too. As for West Virginia, it came from the Civil War because they wanted to fight for the Union …” His voice trailed off as he looked up at a very confused Thor, and he felt a smile grow before he knew it. “I’ll explain it later - you’ve probably been too busy to notice one little war.”

“Was it little?” Thor asked, brows furrowed. “Because I’ve seen wars to last centuries, and that’s fairly average, so if  _ you  _ think it was little then I probably could have slept through it.”

“Four years, but it was pretty bad. I think little was misleading.”

“Hmm. I’ll have to wait for later, then.” Thor turned back to the map and Bruce looked over at him before crossing his arms and looking at it with him (he didn’t have anything but lab work to do anyways). The more he looked at all the states, the more ridiculous they started to look - Thor really did have good reason to be confused by it.

“I’m from that state,” he offered, ignoring Thor’s eyes on him as he pointed to Ohio, slightly relieved when they moved to Bruce’s finger on the western edge of the state. Thor leaned forward.

“ _ Ohio _ . Is it nice there?”

“It’s alright. I mean, it’s Ohio, there’s not a lot there. But there is stuff,” he quickly added, not knowing what Thor would consider as ‘not a lot there’, being an alien and all. “Like buildings and people and all that. I haven’t been there in a while, but there are some pretty fountains.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Thanks.” Bruce shot him a smile, and Thor returned it with a grin. 

“I’ve only been to New Mexico and New York, but I want to visit all of the states one day. Especially California, and Florida, and Kansas.”

Bruce chuckled. “Why Kansas? There’s nothing there.”

“Because whenever I mention visiting Kansas people laugh, so I wish to see what’s so funny about it.”

Bruce bit his lip to keep from laughing again. “It’s not that there’s anything funny there, it’s just that there’s not a lot of anything. There’s a bunch of plains, and farms, but that’s about it.”

“Sounds  _ peaceful _ ,” Thor said, and Bruce sighed.

“That’s fair.”

A silence grew around them, and Bruce was hoping Thor would say something. When nothing happened, he figured he should go back to his lab, and was debating whether to formally excuse himself or not as he took a step back, then opening his mouth -

“And then I’m gonna go to Ar-Kansas,” Thor said, turning his head back at Bruce, who looked up at him before stepping back to his side.

“Thor, it’s pronounced Ar-kin-saw.” 

“Alright. So I’ll visit California, Florida, Arkanas, and Kin-saw,” he nodded, frowning as Bruce turned his head. The scientist took Thor’s hand, forming a point before bringing it up to Kansas. 

“This one’s pronounced Kansas. This one-” he moved Thor’s hand down “-Arkansas.”

“But they’re spelled the same. Why do they have completely different pronunciations?”

“No idea, Thor.” He let go of him. 

Thor was finding it hard to accept that, crossing his arms at the map. “The organization of your country is baffling.”

“Can’t argue with you there.”

Thor just continued to look around the map, finding the situation too stupid to accept before Bruce clapped his hands together, turning his body to face the god.

“Tell you what: I’ll look up why those names are so weird with other basic Civil War stuff, and I’ll let you know what I find later.” He hoped that would make him feel better about it (he’d been just as confused about the name situation in grade school), and he was happy to see Thor’s familiar smile come back.

“Thanks Banner,” he replied, quieter than usual, and Bruce smiled back. He felt good about it. Thor swiped the map away, and Bruce raised a brow. “No more questions?”

“Correct, I’m all out. Thank you for your time though, I know you’re a very busy man,” Thor said, logging out of the system. Bruce frowned, not knowing how to respond yet; he didn’t think anyone noticed how much time he spent to himself. Or  _ cared _ .

“Well yeah, but we’re … friends,” Bruce insisted, trying out the word and whipping his eyes towards Thor for a reaction. He couldn’t see much due to Thor’s head being down, but he thought he might’ve seen a smile. “And this was a fun talk. And - and my lab’s never locked, in - in case you wanna have more … talks.” He gave a sheepish look, crossing his arms and looking down in mild mortification before feeling Thor’s eyes on him once again, but this felt warm. He looked up to see Thor smiling at him, crinkled nose and all.

“ _ Wonderful _ , Banner: I’ll take you up on it,” he said, and Bruce ended up smiling back, excited at the prospect. “Later then? When is “Later” supposed to be?”

Bruce shrugged. “Not sure, honestly. Just the next time I see you?”

Thor was already looking around for a clock, finding one and quickly reading it before looking back at this friend. “How does six work?”

“In the morning?” Bruce asked, surprised that Thor would wake up that early for pronunciation history (Bruce would probably be working, as he always was), but Thor shook his head. 

“Evening. Tomorrow?”

“What about dinner?”

“Banner, what do you’ll think we’ll be doing?” he chuckled before giving a wave and walking away, likely to his floor. Bruce stood there, staring at Thor’s back as he left until he couldn’t see it anymore. Blinking himself out of it, he turned around, heading quickly to his lab to study.

 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is [here](http://brucethot.tumblr.com) if you ever want to talk Marvel/Thorbruce, and I hoped you liked this enough!


End file.
